A relatively new way of offering and selling products is to use electronic commerce applications through the medium of the Internet.
E-commerce refers to the use of the technical means of electronic data networks to promote the economic and marketing processes of a company and to develop new marketing channels. The individual goals extend from corporate communications through the creation of value processes to the selling operation via all market phases. The following areas of application exist for e-commerce applications:
Online shopping, e.g. advertising, product information, interaction between customer and seller;
Customer service, e.g. technical documentation, installation and operating instructions; and
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), i.e. standardized data interchange between companies (including price lists, orders, invoices).
According to Krause, J xe2x80x9cElectronic Commerce Geschxc3xa4ftsfelder der Zukunft heute nutzenxe2x80x9d, Hanser-Verlag 1998 ISB 3-446-19378-2, the potential customer who has Internet access and wishes to use an e-commerce application expects the following:
a complete offering, no fragments;
comprehensive product information;
clear statements regarding price, terms of guarantee, delivery conditions and service; and
order confirmation by e-mail and, in the case of a lengthy delivery period, a corresponding message.
Described hereinbelow in detail as a known design approach is the e-commerce system of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG), which is similar to the e-commerce systems of many other companies.
The basis of the DTAG e-commerce system via the Internet, available under www.T- Versand.de, is the standard software Intershop. Intershop is a fully equipped medium which permits a smooth entry into the online market. Intershop technology goes beyond the typical limits of HTML pages and opens its own shopping center. Intershop is the first standardized software world-wide to allow the design of interactive, multimedia online shops. Intershop can be easily combined with existing merchandising or invoicing systems, can be operated as an autonomous system, or both.
The Intershop software programs are interfaced with the WWW server offering the HTML pages. Intershop has an integrated database which keeps the product catalog data in readiness. At the server end, e-commerce is usually provided by three components:
WWW server
e-commerce applications
database with product catalog
The customer has the following possibilities for going to the homepage of T-Versand of DTAG:
direct entry of the address xe2x80x9cwww.T-Versand.dexe2x80x9d in the browser;
via the Internet pages of DTAG; and
via Internet catalogs.
If the potential customer has Internet access, of whatever technology, he/she can open the desired shop. Seen in practical terms, the customer enters a small store, searches on the homepage for the desired department and reaches the offerings there with just a few mouse clicks. The online shop begins with the selection of the product groups. In addition, the customer is able to read the general terms and conditions of business, to use a lexicon or to directly accept special offers. Furthermore, the customer can register, i.e. he can make himself known to the system in order to start the later transaction process. If, for example, the customer has selected the group xe2x80x9cT-Net and analog terminalsxe2x80x9d, he is presented with a further selection in which he can choose between various orientations of that group. With this selection, the customer is provided with more detailed explanations about what is offered in that category. That is, the customer ascertains whether he/she is on the right path to the desired product.
In the left-hand menu bar, the customer is able to switch to a different category at any time.
If the customer has selected the link xe2x80x9ccord-bound telephonesxe2x80x9d, he is next presented with the list of cord-bound terminals as the result. The customer thus arrives at a product selection list after only his third selection. This is an important principle which e-commerce shops should always observe. The product selection list now also shows a picture, the name, price and a brief description of the selected telephone. When the customer has selected a telephone, he can view the product data sheet which indicates the most important features. Here, the customer is able to take a look at the features and decide on the product. Thereafter, the customer has the following possibilities:
place the telephone in the shopping basket;
go back to the product list; or
follow cross-references (e.g. accessories).
If the customer has decided to place a telephone in the shopping basket, the shopping basket serves the function of storing the products until the customer has finally decided to submit his order. The shopping basket offers the following functionalities:
add product (with quantity);
remove product from the shopping basket;
display order value;
display terms and conditions of delivery; and
order products in the shopping basket.
In the majority of cases, the customer wishes either to purchase a product, to first obtain information about products and then make a purchase, or simply to obtain information about products. If a customer wishes to purchase a product and already knows his goal and usually the desired product he wishes to select as well, then the customer can easily make a purchase using the above-described system. However, those customers who are undecided or are seeking information have a more difficult time. Very often they have to switch pages in order to obtain information about the differences between the products on offer. The reason for this is that products can only be directly compared to each other by way of the values in the product data sheet. Although the current system offers the presentation of the DTAG catalogue in the Internet with full sales transaction handling, there is not enough support for the customer when searching for that product which is suitable for him. The reason for this in particular is that, owing to their length, the product lists are of only limited suitability for searching. Similar products described only by a brief text and a single picture can often not be properly differentiated. In order to compare features of products with each other, the customer must always have the respective product data sheet displayed and make a note of the most important features. Only then can he return to the product list and have another product or product data sheet displayed in order to compare its product data with the product data of the first product. This procedure places very great demands on the customer and is very time-consuming. Especially given high online costs, the customer will consider whether such time and effort is justified, since the printed catalogue supplies the same information content. It is even more difficult to compare products which are assigned to different categories. Here, the procedure is similar to that described above, only in this case, it is also necessary to switch between categories. An example of this is the comparison of D-Netz [D-Network] telephones with C-Netz [C-Network] telephones. If a customer does not have a certain basic knowledge or has not obtained information on certain products in advance, he will be overwhelmed by the product information in the product data sheet. In particular, he will not see the most important features of the products at a glance. A further deficiency is to be seen in the fact that the system offers the customer little in the way of assistance for solving his problem.